Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Contrast-Matching Detergent in Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Experiments for Membrane Protein Structural Analysis and Ab Initio Modeling
Published on: October 21, 2018
YASARA View - molecular graphics for all devices - from smartphones to workstations
1Centre for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics, NCMLS, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Summary:
Today's graphics processing units (GPUs) compose the scene from individual triangles. As about 320 triangles are needed to approximate a single sphere-an atom-in a convincing way, visualizing larger proteins with atomic details requires tens of millions of triangles, far too many for smooth interactive frame rates. We describe a new approach to solve this 'molecular graphics problem', which shares the work between GPU and multiple CPU cores, generates high-quality results with perfectly round spheres, shadows and ambient lighting and requires only OpenGL 1.0 functionality, without any pixel shader Z-buffer access (a feature which is missing in most mobile devices).
Availability And Implementation:
YASARA View, a molecular modeling program built around the visualization algorithm described here, is freely available (including commercial use) for Linux, MacOS, Windows and Android (Intel) from www.YASARA.org.
Contact:
elmar@yasara.org
Supplementary Information:
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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